"The decision to be open to Qt is in no way a criticism of GNOME. It’s a celebration of free software’s diversity and complexity," says Ubuntu founder, Mark Shuttleworth in his blog.

Shuttleworth blogs today about finding space on the Ubuntu cd for Qt libraries in the Ubuntu 11.10 (Natty+1) release. Ubuntu will also be evaluating applications that have been developed with Qt for inclusion in the default install of Ubuntu.

Shuttleworth says developers will be asking the following questions when evaluating those apps for inclusion. Is it free software? Is it best-in-class? Does it integrate with the system settings and preferences? Does it integrate with other applications? Is it accessible to people who cannot use a mouse, or keyboard? Does it look and feel consistent with the rest of the system?

Shuttleworth also discusses the Qt work with the greater Ubuntu community, its representation at the Ubuntu Developer Summit, and what the decision to use Qt means. He also talks about GNOME and how making the decision "be open to Qt is in no way a criticism of GNOME"

Shuttleworth concludes his post by thanking Trolltech and Nokia for making Qt a great toolkit and he welcomes developers who want to use and be part of the Ubuntu experience.

The Budapest Ubuntu Developer Summit (UDS-O) kicked off on Monday, May 9, at the Corinthia Hotel. "Accessibility is one of our core values as a project," Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth said in his keynote address, as he acknowledged the Unity documentation team contributions to the 11.04 release. After briefly looking back at the "Natty Narwhal" Ubuntu release, Shuttleworth set his sights on the upcoming release, saying, "Our goal, our mission is 200-million Ubuntu users in four years."